Śrīmad Devi Bhāgavatam | Book 9 Chapter 33

THE NINTH BOOK

Chapter XXXIII

Description of the destinies of different sinners in different hells

1-19. Dharmarāja said:

Those who are in Hari’s service, pure, the Siddhas in Yoga (those that have attained success in Yoga), the performers of Vratas (vows), the chaste, the ascetics, the Brahmachārins never go to hells. There is no doubt in this.

Those persons who are proud of their strong positions and who use very harsh burning words to their friends, they go to Vahṇi Kuṇḍa and live there for as many years as there are hairs on their body; next they attain animal births for three births and get themselves scorched under the strong heat of the Sun.

He goes to the Tapta Kuṇḍa hell who does not entertain any Brāhman guest with any eatables who comes to his house hungry and thirsty.

He lives there for as many years as there are hairs on their body and he has to sleep on a bed of fire, very tormenting. Then he will have to be born for seven births as birds.

If anybody washes any clothing with any salt on Sunday, or on the day of Samkranti (when the Sun enters another sign), or on any new-moon day or on any Śraddhā day (when funeral ceremonies are performed), he will have to go to the Kṣāra Kuṇḍa hell where he remains for as many years as there are threads in that clothing and finally he becomes born for seven births as a veritable washerman.

The wretch who abuses Mūlā Prakriti, the Vedas, the Śāstras, Purāṇas, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva and the other Devas, Gauri, Lakṣmī, Saraswatī and the other Devīs, goes to the hell named Bhayānaka Naraka Kuṇḍa. There is no other hell more tormenting than this. The sinners live here for many Kalpas and ultimately become serpents.

There is no sin greater than the abuse of the Devī. There is no expiation for it. So one ought never to abuse the Devī!

If one discontinues the allowances given by oneself or other persons to the Devas or Brāhmaṇas, one goes to Viṣṭhā Kuṇḍa and has to eat the faeces there for sixty thousand years and finally to be born in Bhārata as worms in faeces the same number of years.

If any person without the owner’s permission digs another’s tank dried of water, or makes water in the water of any tank, he goes to Mūtra Kuṇḍa and drinks urine for as many years as there are the particles in that tank. Then he becomes born in this Bhārata it’s an ox for one hundred years.

If any person eats good things himself without giving any portion thereof to the member of his family, he goes to Śleṣma Kuṇḍa where he eats phlegm, for full one hundred years.

Then he becomes born as Preta (disembodied spirits) in this Bhārata for hundred years and drinks phlegm, urine and pus; then he becomes pure.

He who does not support his father, mother, spiritual teacher, wife, sons, daughters and the helpless persons, goes to Gara Kuṇḍa where he eats poison for full one hundred years. Finally he becomes born and wanders as Bhūtas (disembodied spirits). Then he becomes pure.

20-50. He who becomes angry and shrinks his eyes at the sight of a guest who has come to his house, offends the Devas or Pitris, who do not accept the water offered to them by that villain.

On the contrary, he earns all the sins of Brahmāhatyā (murder of a Brāhmin and so forth) and finally goes to Dūṣikā Kuṇḍa where he remains for one hundred years and eats polluted things. Then wandering as Bhūtas for one hundred years he becomes purified.

If anybody makes a gift of any article to a Brāhmin and then again gives that article to a different man, he goes to Vasā Kuṇḍa where he eats marrows for one hundred years.

Then he has to roam about in India for seven births as a Krikalāsa (lizard) and finally he becomes born as a very poor man with a very short life.

If any woman or any man makes another of a different sex eat semen, out of passion, he goes to Śukra Kuṇḍa where he drinks semen for one hundred years. Then he crawls about as worms for one hundred years. And then he gets purified.

If anybody beats a Brāhmaṇa who is a family preceptor and causes him to bleed, he will have to go to Rakta Kuṇḍa where he has to drink blood for one hundred years. Finally he has to roam about for seven births in India as tigers; then he gradually becomes pure.

If anybody mocks and laughs at any devotee of Kṛṣṇa who sings with rapt consciousness and sheds tears of joy, he will have to go to Aśrū Kuṇḍa where he drinks tears for one hundred years. Then he has to roam as Chāṇḍāla for three births and then he becomes pure.

He who always cheats his friends, lives for one hundred years in Gātramala Kuṇḍa. Then roaming about for three births as a donkey and for three births as a fox concurrently, he becomes purified.

Out of vanity, if anybody jests at a deaf person, he goes to Karṇamala Kuṇḍa where he eats for one hundred years the wax of the ear. Next he comes to the earth as a deaf and very poor man for seven births, when at last he gets purified.

If anybody commits murder out of greed to support his family, he goes to the hell Majjā Kuṇḍa where he eats marrow for one lakh years.

Next he becomes a fish for seven births, for seven births he becomes a mosquito, for three births he becomes a boar, for seven births he becomes a cock, deer and other animals concurrently; at last he gets purified.

If any stupid person sells the daughter whom he has supported, out of greed for money, he goes to Māṇsa Kuṇḍa and lives there for as many years as there are hairs on her body.

The Yama’s servants beat him with their clubs. His head becomes overloaded with the burden of the flesh; and, out of hunger, he licks the blood coming out of his head.

Next that sinner comes to Bhārata and for sixty years becomes a worm in any daughter’s faeces, for seven births he becomes a hunter; for three births a boar; for seven births, cock; for seven births, frog; for seven births, leech; and for seven births, crow; when he gets purified.

One who shaves on the day of observing vows, fasting and funeral ceremony day, becomes impure and unfit to do any action, and, in the end, he goes to the Nakha Kuṇḍa where he receives blows of clubs and eats nails for one hundred Deva years.

If anybody worships, out of carelessness, the earthen Śiva phallic symbol with any hairs on it, he goes to the hell Keśa Kuṇḍa where he remains for as many years as there are particles in that hair;

then he gets to the yoni (womb) of Yāvanānī (a Mlechcha woman) out of Hara’s wrath. After one hundred years he becomes freed from that and then he becomes a Rākṣasa; there is no doubt in this.

He who does not offer Piṇḍas to the Viṣṇupāda in honour of his Pitris at Gayā goes to the hell Asthi Kuṇḍa where he remains for as many years as there is dirt on his body. Then he becomes a man; but for seven births he becomes lame and poor. Then he gets purified.

The stupid man who commits outrage and violence on his pregnant wife, resides for one hundred years in the hot Tāmra Kuṇḍa (where coppers are in a molten condition).

He who takes the food of a childless widow and the same of any woman that has just bathed after menstruation goes for one hundred years to the hot Lauha Kuṇḍa (where iron is in a molten condition).

For seven births he becomes then a crow and for seven births he becomes born of a washerwoman, full of sores and boils and poor. Then he gets purified.

51-61. If one touches the things of the Devas after touching skins or impure hides, one remains in the Charma Kuṇḍa for full one hundred years.

If any Brāhmin eats a Śūdrā’s food, requested by him, he lives for one hundred years in the hot Surā Kuṇḍa. Then for seven births he performs the funeral rites for a Śūdra; at last he becomes pure.

If any foul-mouthed person uses always harsh and filthy language to his master, he will have to go to Tīkṣṇa Kanṭaka Kuṇḍa where he eats thorns. Besides, the Yama’s servants give severe beatings to him with their clubs. For seven births he will have to become horse when he gets purified.

If any man ministers poison to another and so takes away his life, he will have to remain for endless years in Viṣa Kuṇḍa, where he will have to eat poison.

Then he will have to pass for one hundred years as a murderer Bhilla, full of sores and boils, and for seven births he will have to be a leper when at last he gets purified.

Being born in this holy land Bhāratvarṣa, if any man strikes a cow with a rod or any driver does so whether by himself or by his servant, he will have to dwell certainly in the hot Lauha Kuṇḍa for four yugas. He will have to pass as many years as a cow as there are hairs on that cow when ultimately he gets purified.

If anybody strikes anybody else with a red-hot iron dart (Kunta weapon), he will have to dwell in the Kunta Kuṇḍa for ayuta years. Then he will have to remain for one birth in a good womb, with a diseased constitution, when ultimately he will be purified.

62-85. If any Brāhmin villain eats, out of greed, any flesh (not sacrificed before the goddess) or anything not offered to Hari, he will have to remain in the Krimi Kuṇḍa where he eats those things for as many years as there are hairs on his body. Then he will have to pass for three births as Mlechchas when ultimately he becomes born in a Brāhmin family.

If any Brāhmin performs the Śrādh of a Śūdra, eats the food pertaining to a Śrādh of a Śūdra or burns the dead body of a Śūdra, he will have to dwell certainly in Pūya Kuṇḍa, where, being beaten by the rod of Yama, he eats the pus, etc., for as many years as there are hairs on his body.

Then he becomes reborn in this Bhārata as one greatly diseased, poor, deaf and dumb and ultimately he will have to roam for seven births as a Śūdra.

He who kills a black serpent on whose hood there is the lotus mark, lives in Sarpa Kuṇḍa for as many years as there are hairs on his body and he is bitten by serpents there and beaten by the servants of Yama and eats the excrescences of snakes and finally becomes born as a serpent.

Then he becomes a man short-lived and having the cutaneous disease and ringworm. And his death also comes out of snake-bite.

He who kills mosquitoes and other small fanged-animals, that earn their substance rightly and pass so their lives, goes to Damśa maśa Kuṇḍa where he is eaten by mosquitoes and other fanged-creatures and lives there without food and crying, weeping, for as many years as the numbers of lives destroyed.

Besides the Yama’s servants tie his hands and feet and beat him. Then he becomes born as flies when ultimately he becomes purified.

He who beats and chastises any man not fit to be chastised and beaten and as well as a Brāhmaṇa, goes to Vajra Damṣṭra Kuṇḍa, full of worms, and lives there day and night for as many years as there are the number of hairs on the chastised person.

When he is bitten by the worms and beaten by Yama’s servants, he cries sometimes, weeps sometimes, and becomes very miserable. Next he is reborn as a crow for seven births when ultimately he gets purified.

If any foolish king punishes and gives trouble to his subjects out of greed of money, he goes to Vriśchika Kuṇḍa where he lives for as many years as there are hairs on the bodies of his subjects. There is no doubt in this.

Finally he becomes born in this Bhārata as a scorpion; then a man diseased and defective in limbs, when ultimately he becomes freed of his sins.

If any Brāhmin carries or raises weapons, washes the clothes of others who do not perform Sandhyās and abandons his devotion to Hari, he lives in Sarādi Kuṇḍa for as many years as there are hairs on his body; he is, then, pierced by arrows. Finally he becomes purified.

If any king maddened by his own folly and fault, shuts his subjects in a dark cell and kills them, then he will have to go to a dreadful dark hell filled with worms having fanged teeth and covered with dirt.

This hell is named Gola Kuṇḍa. He lives there bitten by insects for as many years as there are hairs on the bodies of his subjects. Finally he becomes a slave of those subjects, when he gets purified.

86-103. If anybody kills the sharks and crocodiles, etc., that rise out of the water spontaneously, he will have to remain, then, in Nakra Kuṇḍa for as many years as there are thorns or edged points on those animals. Then he will have to be born as crocodiles, etc., for some time, when he will be purified.

If any man, overpowered with lust, sees another’s wife’s uncovered breast, loins, and face, he will have to remain in Kāka Kuṇḍa for as many years as there are hairs in his own body. Here the crows take out his eyes. Finally for three births he gets himself burned by Fire when he becomes pure.

He who steals in India the gold of the Devas and the Brāhmaṇas, dwells certainly in Manthāna Kuṇḍa for as many years as there are hairs on his body.

My servants give him good beatings, and cudgelling; his eyes are covered by Manthāna Daṇḍa insects (or animals) and he eats their dirty faeces.

Then he is reborn as a man but for three births he becomes blind and for seven births he becomes very poor, cruel, and a sinful goldsmith and then he is born a Svarṇavaṇik (Sonār bene).

O Fair One! He who steals copper or iron, silver or gold, dwells in Vīja Kuṇḍa for so many years as there are hairs on his body.

There the Vījas (a kind of insect) cover his eyes and he eats the excrescences of those insects. My messengers torment him. Finally he gets purified.

If anybody steals any Devatā or the articles of a Devatā, he dwells in Vajra Kuṇḍa for as many years as there are hairs on his body.

There his body gets burnt up. My messengers torment him and he a cries and weeps and remains without any food. Then he gets purified.

If anybody steals the metal gold or silver, cows, or garments of any Deva or a Brāhmaṇa, certainly he dwells in hot Pāṣāṇa Kuṇḍa for as many years as there are hairs on his body.

Next for three births he becomes a tortoise and all sorts of white birds. Finally for three births he becomes a leper and for one birth be becomes a man with white marks on his body.

Next for seven births he becomes diseased with a severe colic pain and bad blood and lives short. Then he gets purified.

If anybody steals brass or Kāmsya properties of any Deva or a Brāhmaṇa, he will have to remain in the sharp Pāṣāṇa Kuṇḍa for as many years as there are hairs on his body.

Next he becomes born in Bhārata for seven births as horses; and ultimately his both testicles get enlarged and he gets diseases in his legs when he gets purified.

If anybody verily eats the food of an adulterate woman or lives on her alms, he will have to go to the Lālā Kuṇḍa for as many years as there are hairs on his body.

My messengers torment him there and he eats the saliva and thus lives miserably. Then he gets eye diseases and colic; when ultimately he gets purified.

104-126. If any Brāhmaṇa lives on writing only or on the service of Mlechchas, he lives in Masi Kuṇḍa very painfully, eating ink, tormented by My messengers for as many years as there are hairs on his body.

Then he becomes a black animal for three births and for another three births he becomes a black goat. Then he becomes a Tāl tree when he gets purified.

If anybody steals a Deva’s or a Brāhmaṇa’s grains, or any other good materials, betel, Āsan (seat) or bedding, he lives in Chūrṇa Kuṇḍa for one hundred years, tormented by My Dūtas (messengers).

Next for three births he gets himself born as a goat, cock, and monkey. Finally he becomes born as a man with the heart disease, without any issue, poor, and short lived. Then, at last, he gets purified.

If anybody steals any Brāhmin’s property and thereby does chakra puja (the famous chakra circle worship in Tantra), or prepares a potter’s wheel or any other wheels, he will have to go to Chakra Kuṇḍa and remain there for one hundred years, tormented by My messengers.

Then he will be born for three births as an oilman suffering from very severe diseases when he will ultimately be poor, without any issue and diseased. Finally he gets purified.

If anybody casts a sinful eye on any Brāhmaṇa or on cows, he will have to remain in Vakra Kuṇḍa for one hundred Yugas.

Next for three births he becomes a cat, for three births he becomes a vulture; for three births he becomes a boar; for three births he becomes a peacock; for seven births he becomes a man deformed and defective in limbs, his wife being dead, without any issue. Finally he becomes purified.

If any person born in a Brāhmin family eats the flesh of a tortoise that is prohibited, he lives in Kūrma Kuṇḍa, for one hundred years, eaten by tortoises.

Then he becomes for three births a tortoise; for three births, a boar; for three births a cat; for three births, a peacock; till at last he becomes purified.

If anybody steals clarified butter or oil of any Devas or a Brāhmaṇa he will have to go to Jvālā Kuṇḍa or Bhaṣma Kuṇḍa. That sinner remains in oil for one hundred years and gets soaked through and through. Then for seven births he becomes a fish and a mouse when he gets purified.

If anybody, born here in this holy land Bhārata steals sweet scented oil of a Deva or of a Brāhmaṇa, the powdered Myrobalan or any other scent, he goes to Dagdha Kuṇḍa where he lives, burnt day and night for as many years as there are hairs on his body.

For seven births he becomes born emitting a nasty smell, for three births he becomes musk (mriga-nābhi); for seven births, as a Manthāna insect. Then he becomes born as a man.

If due to envy a powerful man appropriates to his purpose another’s ancestral property by cheating, by using force, he goes to the hot Sūchī Kuṇḍa, being tormented there like a Jīva dropped in the midst of a very hot oil tank, full of boiling oil.

His body is, then, being burnt up severely as the result of his own Karma; the wonder will be that his body never gets completely destroyed nor reduced to ashes.

For seven Manvantaras he lives there without any food. My messengers give him good beatings and cudgelling and chastise him; he will cry aloud.

Next he gets himself born as worms of faeces for sixty thousand years. Then he becomes born as a pauper without any land. Thus that villain, getting a fresh lease of human birth, begins again to do fresh good acts.

Here ends the Thirty-third Chapter of the Ninth Book on the description of the destinies of different sinners in different hells in Śrīmad Devī Bhāgavatam of 18,000 verses by Mahāṛṣi Veda Vyāsa.